Shutter



Jan. 14, 1930. H. M. VETTEIRLEIN SHUTTER 2 Sheets-Sheet .1

Filed Feb, 15. 1928 Jan. 14, 1-930. H. M. VETTERLEIN I SHUTTER med Feb. 15. 1928 z'sneets-sheet 2 Patented Jan. 14, 1930 UNITED, STATES PATENT OFFICE HENRY M. VETTERLEIN, 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO HENRY PENN BURKE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA SHUTTER Application filed February 15, 1928.- Serial No. 254,553.

This invention relates to improvements in shutters or doors of the general character shown and described in Letters Patent Nos. 1,492,420 and 1,636,200.

The objects of the invention are, first, to eliminate the yieldable bar formerly employed to hold the plates of the shutter against the side walls of the opening which it is constructed to close and to provide in lieu thereof a novel and efiicient means for holding the shutter plates firmly and rigidly in a locked position against the side walls of the said opening when the shutter is in the closed position; and, second, to provide a means for eliminating the drafts heretofore present by reason of the wedgeshaped air spaces or passages between the end or lateral edge portions of the plates of the shutter and the side walls of the opening closed thereby.

The invention consists in the novel construction combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

Figure 1 is an elevation, partly in section, of my improved shutter applied to the wall of a building having an opening therein adapted to be closed by the shutter, as seen from the interior of the building and showing the shutter in the lowered or closed position.

Figure 2 1s a vertical section thereof, on-

line 22 of Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, showing the shutter in the elevated or open position.

Figure 4 is a vertical section, enlarged,

through several of the plates of the shutter and the adjacent portion of one of the angle bars at one'side of the shutter.

Figure 5 is an enlarged vertical SGCtIOII' of a portion of one of the angle bars at one side of the shutter, showing the meeting corners of two of the shutter plates therein.

Figure 6 is a horizontal section, on line 66 of Fig. 5.

Figure 7 is a horizontal section, on line 77 of Fig. 5.

Figure 8 is a perspective View of one of the lower corner portions of one of the shutter plates, showing the spring thereon for exerting pressure against the shutter plates. Referring to the drawings 3 designates a building wall having an opening at therein shown in Fig. 3 to clear the opening 4 and to be lowered to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2 to close the opening 4.

The shutter 5 comprises a plurality of plates or sections 8 which are vertically slidable relatively to one another. In the lowered position of the shutter, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the plates 8 extend below one another and they are connected at their meeting upper and lower edge portions; and, in the elevated position, as shown in Fig. 3, the plates 8 are nested together and located back of one another in a common horizontal plane.

The shutter 5 is raised and lowered by raising and lowering the bottom plate 8 shown in Fig. 2 by any suitable mechanism. The mechanism herein illustrated for this purpose is the same as that shown and described inLetters Patent N 0. 1,492,420, previously referred to, which includes cables 9 connected to the bottom plate 8 and extending therefrom to sheaves 10 on an overhead shaft .11 which is turned to wind the cables upon the sheaves to raise the shutter and which is turned to unwind the cables from the sheaves to lower the shutter.

The upper plate 8 shown in Figs. 1 and 2 or the front plate 8 shown in Fig. 3 is secured to the wall 3 above the opening 4:. The bottom edge portion of each plate, excepting the lowermost plate of the shutter, is bent to form a rearwardly and upwardly turned flange or hook 12, and-the top edge portion of each plate, excepting the uppermost plate'of the shutter, is bent to. form a forwardly and downwardly turned flange or hook 13. a 1

The lower corners of the platesof the shutter, excepting the bottom plate 8 shown in Fig. 2, each have a block 14 secured thereto and each block 14 is provided with a hook 15 which embraces and is slidably engaged with the lateral edge portion of the next adjacent plate in front thereof so that each plate may slide vertically through the hooks 15 of the next adjacent rearward plate when the entire shutter is raised to the open position or lowered to the closed position by raising and lowering the lowermost plate thereof.

The blocks 14 are constructed and secured to the plates of the shutter like the blocks 4 shown and described in Letters Patent No. 1,636,200, excepting that each block 14 is provided with a downwardly extending projection 16, hereinafter referred to, and the hooks 15 operate with relation to the plates 8 of the shutter the same as the hooks 11 of said Letters Patent No. 1,636,200.

When the shutter 5 is lowered from the position shown in Fig. 3 to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the top hooks 13 of the plates successively enter the bottom hooks 12 thereof to suspendthe plates from one 1 another; and when the shutter is raised from the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2 to the position shown in Fig. 3, the top hooks 13 are successively withdrawn from the bottom hooks 12, and the bottom hooks 12 of the plates successively engage the side hooks 15 thereof and lift them into the elevated position, the same as shown and described in the aforesaid Letters Patent. As the bottom plate 8 shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is not provided with a hook like the hooks 12 of the plates above it, the plate 8? is provided with a bottom bar 17 for engagement with the hooks 15 of the next plate above it when the shutter is raised.

The plates of the shutter extend between and into oppositely disposed, vertically extending channel bars 18 which are secured to the wall 3 adjacent to the sides of the opening 4, the end of lateral edge portions of the shutter plates being located between the forward and rearward walls 19 and 20, re-' spectively, of the channel bars. The for- .ward walls 19 of the channel bars 18 follow the vertical inner surface of the building wall 3. The upper ends of the rearward walls 20 of the channel bars are spaced from the forward walls 19 thereof sufliciently to receive all the shutter plates when they are raised and nested back of one another, as shown in Fig. 3; and, the walls 20 are 1n- -clined forwardly and downwardly fromtheir upper ends toward the lower ends of the walls 19, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, for a ur ose resently appearing. p The pr djections 16 on the blocks 14 at each side of the shutter are arranged in alinement with a vertical series of pockets 21 formed in the adjacent forward wall 19 of the adjacent channel bar 18 and located one above another. These pockets are formed by wedgeshaped projections 22 struck from the body of each wall 19 and being 0 en at their upper ends for the reception of t e projections 16, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4. These pockets 21 are located with respect to the projections 16 so that when the plates of the shutter are lowered to close the opening 4 the projections 16 of the several plates 8 will successively enter and'remain within the pockets-21, and so that when the plates of shutter are raised to clear the opening 4, the projections 16 of the several plates 8 will be successively withdrawn from thepockets 21.

When the shutter 5 is lowered from the position shown in Fig. 3 to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the entire set of plates back of the fixed plate 8 is bodily lowered and they remain in their respective positions back of one another until, beginning with the first plate 8 back of the fixed plate 8*, they are successively stopped by the engagement of their top hooks 13 with the bottom hooks 12 of the plates forwardly thereof; and, when the shutter 5 is raised, the plates thereof, beginning with lowermost plate 8, shown in Figs. 1 and 2, assemble successively in their respective positions back of one another as the bottom bar 17 and bottom hooks 12 of the plates engage the side hooks 15 thereof and lift them.

The bottom portion of the bottom plate 8 shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and rearward plate shown in Fig: 3, near the ends or lateral edge portions thereof is provided with spring arms 23 carrying antifriction rollers 24 on their free ends which bear against the inclined rearward walls 20 of the channel bars 18 and press the bottom portion of the plate 8 and the bottom portions of all plates 8 in front thereof, in all positions of the plate 8 during the u and down movements thereof, toward the orward walls 19 of the channel bars 18 and thereby cause the projections 16 of the several plates successively to enter their pockets 21 in the Wallsl9 as the plates come to rest in their respective positions below one another during the lowering or closing of the shutter.

After the shutter has been lowered, the projections 16 hold the plates thereof firmly and rigidly in locked positions against the forward walls 19 of the channel bars 18.

In the constructions shown and described in the aforesaid Letters Patent No. 1,492,420, wedge shaped air spaces are present between the end or lateral edge portions of the plates and the adjacent fixed wall forwardly thereof when the shutter is down, due to the engagement of the books at the top and bottom portions of the plates causing the plates to assume slightly inclined positions. In my present improvement these air spaces are filled by the wedge shaped projections 22 on the forward walls 19 of the channel bars 18, which serve the double purpose of providing the pockets 21 for the projections 16 and providing a close joint or union between the shutter plates and the walls 19 forwardly thereof at their lateral edge portions for the elimination of drafts within the building having the opening 4 closed by the shutter.

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination of a frame structure having an opening therein, a shutter including a plurality of vertically movable plates adapted to be lowered to a position in which the plates extend below one another and close said opening and to be raised to an elevated position in which the plates are located back of one another, the frame structure having pockets located below one another, and the plates having parts adapted to enter the pockets when the plates are lowered, and guiding means causing said parts to enter said pockets when the plates are lowered, said parts and the walls of said pockets preventing the movement of the plates away from the frame structure when the parts are in the pockets.

2. The combination of a frame structure having an openin therein, a shutter including a plurality of vertically movable plates adapted to be lowered to a position in which the plates extend below one another and close said opening and to be raised to an elevated position in which the plates are located back of one another, the frame structure having projections located below the respective plates when they are lowered and provided with pockets therein, and, the plates having parts projecting downwardly from the bottoms thereof and adapted to enter said pockets when the plates are lowered, and guiding means causing said parts to enter said pockets when the plates are lowered. C

3. The combination of a frame structure having an opening therein, a shutter including a plurality of vertically movable plates adapted to be lowered to a position in which the plates extend below one another and close said opening and to be raised to an elevated position in which the plates are located back of one another, certain of said plates having forwardly and downwardly turned hooks on the upperv portions thereof and rearwardly and upwardly turned hooks onthe lower portions thereof, the forwardly and downwar ly turned hooks being adapted to enter the rearwardly and upwardly turned hooks when the plates are lowered, the frame structure having pockets located below one another, and the plates having parts adapted to enter the pockets when-the plates are lowered, and guiding means causing said parts to enter said pockets when the plates are lowered.

4. The combination of a frame structure having an opening therein, a shutter including a plurality of vertically movable plates adapted to be lowered to a position in which the plates extend below one. another in lap said pockets when the plates are lowered.

5. The combination of a frame structure having an opening therein and guiding walls at the sides of the opening, a shutter including a plurality of vertically movable plates adapted to be lowered to a position in which the plates extend below one another and close said opening and to be raised to an elevated position in which the plates are located back of one another, said walls having parts provided with pockets located below one another, and the lateral portion of the plates being adapted to slide against said walls and having parts adapted to enter the pockets when the plates are lowered, and yieldable means pressing the plates toward said walls.

6. The combination of a frame structure having an opening therein and guiding walls atthe sides of the opening, a shutter including a plurality of vertically movableplates adapted to be lowered to a position in which the plates extend below one another and close said opening and to be raised to an elevated position in which the plates are located back of one another, said walls having parts provided with pockets located below one another, and the lateral portions of the plates being adapted to slide against said walls and having parts adapted to enter the pockets when the plates are lowered, and yieldable means carried by one of said plates and movable vertically therewith and engaging a part of the frame structure and pressing the plates toward said walls during the lowering of the plates.

In testimony whereof I affix my signa-v ture.

HENRY M. VETTERLEIN. 

